fear of death, heavy metal, Derek Parfit

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I’m basically an atheist. And, um, sh!t yeah!, I’m afraid of death. Why wouldn’t I be?

Heavy metal music helps some, for whatever reason.

and also some of what I take from the philosopher Derek Parfit.

=============

I’d love for there to be a Christian-friendly Pagan group in my part of Houston. As well as Islam-friendly, Buddhist-friendly, Jewish-friendly, Sikh-friendly, etc. But Christian-friendly in particular because that’s what I’m used to.

And I suppose for me it’d be “open source”?

Meaning I think I’d enjoy doing dances and songs, and maybe the occasional prayer. But in my heart of hearts, I don’t think we’re connecting to a greater reality.

Even though this song is not directly about fear of death, makes me a little braver and a little more accepting.


PS I’m not sure I really need the commentary. Or, the song is the commentary!

On another site, someone told how they liked listening to “War Pigs” as they drove into work. They found it to be both an anti-war song and curiously, a call to arms.

It’s almost an 8 minute song.

---

SMiLes, When Humans Connect
In Ways of Arts That Bring

Loving Communion

It's Enough of
A Greater Reality

For me in Shared

Flow of Experience in An
Environment of Love Where

There is No Room For Fear

When the Environment of Love is Real
For It's True A Communion of Love Between

Humans Does Bring In Flow A Greater Ascending And
Transcending Reality of Spirit That Is Real in Feeling

And Sensing Ways

Hehe, Even

Famous
Atheist
'Sam
Harris'

Totally Agrees
And Partakes in Avenues
Like Concerts As Music Is Expressions
of Human Emotions And Senses That Equal
A Synergy of the Material Reductionist Spiritual

Juices of Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, Endorphins
And Not Too Many Stress Hormones to Bring on Fear...

It's Possible to Experience Zero Fears Over Death Yet It's
A Life Long Practice of Inhaling Peace Exhaling Love At Best

in A Communion
of More Than One
Person too, Even if it is
Only Listening to the Music of Others Now...

Yet my, my, A Communion of Actually Dancing
Singing Together, Yes May Bring Pure Ascending
Transcending Nirvana That's Blissful Eternally Now For Real...

No Organized Religions Required Yet Best Naked, Enough, Whole, Complete...

Just in
my Opinion
of Course With no Fear
And Surely No Fear of Death Now
As i've Already Faced Death Thrice
And Am So Over Fear oF it Embracing Life...

Typically, It Takes Either Great Pain or Near
Death Experiences to let Go of All the Fear...

And At Best A Practice of Life Wiring Ourselves to Stay That Way on

And

on Through
The Last Blink
And Breath, Love Enough..

---

Thank you very much! This is as good as the lyrics of a really good song and/or a chapter of scripture, and maybe better than most!

Although the magic only sometimes happens.

For example, I’m a 59-years-old man and my longest romantic relationship has been about two years. The interesting thing, the zen-like thing, is that once I take a deep breath and accept that I may not find a partner, that actually increases the chance of this particular magic happening. Plus, I’m better at appreciating myself, including my flaws, and accepting other people, perhaps even especially their flaws.

And I think I probably favor a similar zen approach for—. wanting to make a positive difference in the world, wanting to create really neat art, wanting peak personal experiences, and so on and so forth.

Okay, what I personally take from this mid-‘80s book:

If I lived a science-fiction long life, like 10,000 years, I’d basically be a different person anyway at different points of my life.

And if I look at some of my peak life experiences — such as laughing with friends and feeling happy and free — someone will have this same experience the first decade of the 2300s, as long as I’m not too terribly picky about the details. (just to pick a random time period in the future)

——————————

That’s how I put some of Parfit in my own words. He’s a complicated writer and/or maybe he was a better thinker than writer. Unfortunately, we lost the brother in 2017 when he passed away at age 74.

So, we’ll have to continuing figuring all this out on our own, (optimistically!) using both head and heart and probably more besides.

---

Ah Yes, Thanks So Much 'AardvarkGoodSwimmer,' True
So Fortunate At Age 28, FoR A VEry Small Section of my
Life Then Between A Couple of EXTREMELY Tumultuous
Romantic Relationships On the Other Side of Freedom

Temporarily At
Least Just Feeling
Similarly As i Do

Now Then Naked
Enough Whole
Complete Nope

Not Looking for
A Romantic Partner
Desperately Finally

Then And Yes Just Like Magic
Just Like A Dream Come True

Passing Out Shoes Still At A Military
Bowling Center Then for 4 Years Graduating

From College With 3 Degrees Yet Still Making
Around Four Dollars And Twelve Cents Hehe

As Writing it out Makes it Seem More Than $4.12 Per Hour
Then Yes Just Like A Dream Come True my Wife Wandering

Up to the Control Counter And Eventually Leaving Her Boyfriend

For me As She Said i Looked Happy And Complete With A Smile

She Believed
Would Never

End Just Inhaling
Peace Exhaling Love
Then as i EventuAlly CaMe
to Be for the Last 102 Months Again Now...

Long Road in DarK Yet Worth the Trip Now in Autotelic
Flow Whole Yes Good Fortune to You Hopefully Greater than me...

However, Naked Enough, Whole Complete is No Real Competition

Just A
WaVE iN
Flow Water
Whole Ocean Complete

Or Similarly As i've

Sung Before Yes

To Sense And Feel

And Even Put Into Words

Now; i Am A Leaf Green That Feeds

A Living Tree That Falls Brown to Soils

Fertilizing A Leaf of Grass Green in Spring

And That’s Pretty Much me in a Nut-Shell Or Fertilized Egg,

i Am ‘God’ Incarnate in Form of Life on Earth No Different

Than A Leaf,
A Tree,

And

A Forest

Enough, Naked,

Whole, Complete

Yes Still Growing
Free From River
FLoWinG View me…

Other Than That From The Eyes
of A Non-Verbal Child of Three Now Transforming
That Experiencing ALL into Breath of Free Verse Poetry,

THere is Mystical Religion That One May Find Even in
Dogmatic Versions of Modern Religions, if One Seeks
And Finds Deep Enough WHere Unity of DarK And LiGHT

Both Seen
And Unseen Is

FLoWinG NoW Freer

In This Interrelationship

Of All That is Maturing More in

Faith in the Feeling and SeNSinG

All of Existence DarK Thru LiGHT

Is Worth Understanding And Loving

As Every Inhale of Peace Exhale of LoVE iN JoY oF LiGHT

And DarK Brings Fire Of Real Living Organic SPiRiT, HeART,

And SoUL Within of Feelings, Senses, Emotions, Naked Enough, Whole,

Complete Driving Giving, Sharing, Caring, Healing to All of Existence

Marrying

The Night

Merrying

The Day With

BreaKinG Dawn oF LoVE THiS WaY..

---

@agdogday Thank you. And I particularly like this:

“THere is Mystical Religion That One May Find Even in
Dogmatic Versions of Modern Religions, . . ”

And Congrats to both you and your wife on finding love.

---

SMiLes, Thanks for the Kind
Words, 'AardvarkGoodSwimmer'

Ah, And Yes Mystical Religion,
Exploring The Unknown With
Open Arms And No
Fear And Of Course

Dogmatic Religion,
'Thinking' it Knows
It All With All Its Rules,
Typically With Closed Doors;

Great For All Who Enter And Stay
With Tradition Yet of Course Humanity

Is A Boat That Requires Both Sails For Fair Winds
And Following Seas to Explore And Anchors To Find

Safe Harbors in

Storms too

Nice Thing

About Being
A 'Hybrid Spock
And Kirk' Is Ya Understand

How Both Ways Are Valuable
And Necessary For Over-All Balancing Existence..

---

@aghogday You’re welcome, and thank you!

I try to embrace both my inner Kirk and my inner Spock.

I try to look at mistakes as texture.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/ ... t-rip-obit


a description of one of Derek Parfit’s views:

This seems a better approach for somewhat older persons, such as myself.

This may or may not be the most useful philosophy for young women and men in their 20s for example.

---

"Looking at Mistakes As Texture"

Ah Yes, Paradoxically one of my
Biggest 'Mistakes' in Life Trying to Be

Such A Perfectionist in School As Far As Making Perfect
Grades; And Yes, Work As Far As Never Making A Mistake

Too as that was the Only Way i Learned to Attempt to Fit
in Socially By Being A Valuable Cog That Way in Society

And Yes, Verily A Huge Mistake as Stress This Way Will Become
Cumulative All The Way ACross the Lifespan, When We Just Cannot

Let Go And Watch

The Magic of

Failure

Do Its Thing
Freely to Improve
What We Do Bringing

Greater Texture to All
We Do in Original Creativity too...

For Instance, The Video my Wife Took of
me As i First Started Embarking on A Public
Dance Special Interest, Having No Idea How to do it hehe...

As i Overcame the Pain and Numb of Shut-in Hell For 66 Months, Wake to
Sleep, With the Worst Pain Known to Humankind, Type Two Trigeminal Neuralgia
Then Appropriately Assessed with the Subclinical Term, The Suicide Disease, Along
With 18 Other Mostly Stress associated Medical Disorders, in A Synergy of Life Threat From
11 Years of Chronic Stress to Acute Flight or Fight Stress for the Lasts 2 Years of that Work

Stress of Being

Terrified
of Losing
my Job, if i made
Any Mistakes at all

As We Were Always Moving
Through Some Kind of Reduction
in Force And i Was only Considered
A Valuable Commodity, Not Really Fitting
in any of the Social Circles At Work Pretty

Much going
Solo on my Own
That Way; Well, Anyway,

After i finally Recovered from
the Shut-in Pain and Numb i Lost
All the Fear of Fitting in Along That Trail

So i really Let the 'Frozen' Part of me Go Free to
Explore Through Whatever Failure Might Come

To Just Set the Within Part of me Free And That is What
Public Dance Did, Truly A Vaccination Toward Any Kind of Anxiety

And Yes i Even Did Nude Art As That Would Have Been my Biggest Fear
in Life Back in the Old Days too Embracing Life No Longer Being Concerned

For Being
Shamed

For Being
Different Indeed

And YES HAHA THE REVIEWS
WEREN'T ALWAYS RAVE FOR THE
RAVE DANCE AT FIRST i Did Hehe

Yet Now Finally i Feel So Comfortable
in my Own Skin And So Comfortable Even
Making Small Talk With the Neighbors Around
my Home Dancing Freely Around my Neighborhood Block

Too; Well, Anyway, This is How i Started in 2013, in the First
Video Linked Below At Halloween that First Public Dance Year at Age 53, Yes,

And the Last one, Recently, is After 16,000 Miles of Public Dance Celebrating
That Milestone and Featnote of 100 Months, Enduring All the Mistakes
And Improvements in Dance, And Even Getting More Comfortable in My
Own Skin, Regulating Emotions, Integrating Senses in An Autotelic Flow

of What Feels Like Holy Moving in Balance of Public Dance to me Same
As How the Writing Flows in Sacred Song In Autotelic Feelings Senses
of Bliss Real too...

FRiEnDS With
All of Gravity

Now Like

Flying on

Terrestrial

Land Wings Free

Well Worth

All the Low
Reviews at
First Hehe...

Well Worth This
Adventure of Life
to Set my Soul Totally Free

Moving Out of the Cocoon and
Caterpillar Life Before Really Spreading
Wings to Be Free Living Life in A Sunshine Meadow Now...

And Interestingly Enough, Movement Therapy is Considered
Effective Therapy Approved By Modern Medicine now to Regulate
Emotions And Integrate Senses Among Folks on the Autism Spectrum...

My First Psychiatrist Was actually So Inspired By the Improvements it made
in my Life That He Quit His Private Practice And Started Teaching Movement
Therapy in A Teaching Hospital in South Florida What A Surprise That Was to me

And Yes, in Fact, my Psychiatrist, Who i related the Benefits of What i had Been Doing
Moving to A New Professional Back in 2016, Wrote me a Full Prescription Then For Dance

Therapy, in Case Anyone Gave me Problems Doing it in Public, Like Store Management...
Haha, Yet True, i Just Nerd Blasted All the Store Management Officials From the Get go

For the Benefits and Convinced them Enough to Let me Have my Way Free And That Was

Quite A Challenge
inDeed At

First As

You Might
Imagine Down here
in the Deep South Still,

i am Literally the Only
Human Being Who Dances
in Public Free This Way in
A Radius of At Least 500 Miles and Likely
More hehe as Yes i've Danced About a Radius
That Far in Public And Even Got Identified By

Folks Yelling Out Their Car Windows, Recognizing
me When We used to Visit Casinos in Biloxi With
Folks Driving By Who Just so Happened to Be From Pensacola...

Meanwhile, my Wife Consumed The Free Play with the One Armed
Bandits, While i Danced Free Along The BoardWalks of the Biloxi Beaches...

Sure Beats

the Khaki Pants
And Polo Shirts
All Buttoned Up

in Those Years Behind
A Screen Dying Inside at Work...

i Live in A Locality that Once Held
the Record for the Most Churches Per Capita
in the United States, So I've Always Been Naturally
Interested in Religion As it is So Integral to Most Everyone's
Life Where i Live and i Always Wanted to Find Out Why it Was

That 'Christians' i Knew, Acted Nothing Like the Example of their Hero in
Their Story, the Dude Jesus, As Even When i Smiled the Christian Boys

Threatened me
With Bodily

Harm

telling
me Boys

Are Not Allowed
To SMile in this

"Jesus" Town;

Truly, The Fact That 70 to 80 Percent
of the Folks Here Voted For Trump Explains

So Much As They Obviously Still See 'Jesus'
As the Old Testament God That Fires the Enemy Forever hehe...

It's Not Really Funny; It's Really Sad and Just Another Mistake of Human
Nature That Does Bring Texture As Some Folks Are Fighters, Some Folks Are Lovers,

And Some Folks
Manage to

Balance
Both and

Not Only
Survive, We Do Thrive With SMiLes
in that Nice Mix of 'Spock and Kirk' Hehe..

-Fredenstein..

---

---

'This view — that our distance from our future and past selves
is greater than we might imagine, and our distance from other people’s
present selves is smaller — has a lot in common with traditional Buddhist teaching.'

Ah Yes, my Memory Serves me Great Remembering All the Feelings And Senses of
Life So Many Decades ago Like A Movie Maker Memory Yet i Surely Recognize

Perhaps Even Greater This
Way than Folks Who Aren't
Gifted/Cursed With Memories

Like This Long Term That i Would
Be Almost A Complete Stranger to Myself
Earlier in Life if that me met me Now, in Fact

the me Now Would Probably Bring Some Trepidation
To the me Before if i Encountered The Fearless me Now
Weighing About 70 Pounds More Than i Did in my 20's
Then and Three Times Stronger in Leg Pressing Strength,
500 Pounds at 21, Versus 1520 Pounds Now As it Made me
Somewhat Uncomfortable to Go over to the Free Weight Side
of the Military Gym As Fitting into A Machine For Comfort Sort
of Like Temple Grandin and Her 'Hugging Machine' made me Recognize

i Even Had A Body
Moving Through the
Environment All Connected
to The Thinking Machine Atop
my Shoulders, So hard to keep up
With the Freight Train of Thoughts and
Worries Flying Through And Of Course that's Not
All as Poetry Made Little Sense to me and i Couldn't
Imagine why my Mother Enjoyed Writing And Publishing
it So Much in her 50's As to me it Seemed like a Total Waste of Effort...

It Just Didn't
Bring All the Colors
of Emotions and Senses
That i Generate Now While
Writing it and Reading the Poetry
of Other Folks too, So Much More Holistically
Now Unifying As Buddhism Teaches Non-Dualities

In Mystical
Ways this
Way True too...

Like the Tao and Other
Eastern Philosophies too
That Are So Far Beyond Concrete
Dogmatic Religions/Philosophies of Western Civilizations
That Are More Material Reductionist And Strict Rules Based...

For me at Least, the Folks i've Met Around the Globe Are Much Closer
in A Flow of Consciousness That i Experience Now So Relatable to me

More so than if
i Tried to Communicate
With the me of Decades Before
in 20's of Youth, and even through
40's And Early 50's Too then For Sure...

And True Every Person We Meet and Greet
In Life and Learn From Becomes Part of our Real
Living Organic Soul of Mind And More Than Ever Before
Now in Potential As the World is At Our Fingers Tips Now

All Around
This Globe
At Close to the
Speed oF LIGHT Fitting
All of my 244 Pounds through
This Fiber Optic Cable this way
Through the Arts in Potential i am
Able to Unleash And Release Now As

Basically, in those Previous Decades, All i Could
Do With Creativity is Follow the Lessons of Someone Before,
And Even me As i Would Copy and Paste Tournament Scores in
A Bowling Center News Letter for the Military Bowling Center i Worked
At And Sent to the Local NewsPaper, in Lieu of Writing A Brand New Newsletter
With

Creative
New Paragraphs
Written a Different Way...

For me then That Was Like
Pulling Teeth Without Any Tools...

i Have the Tools Now Also Inspired by
Innumerable Folks i've Met Writing A Total
of Over 13 MiLLioN Words Since i Came Aboard
the 'Wrong Planet' on Thank Giving Day of 2010, Just

For A Last
Grasp Effort
to Get my Mind
off that Worst Suicide
Disease Pain No Drug Would

Touch, Yep writing here Literally
Kept me Alive then through So Much
Pain and Numb And Now It's All Just A Flow,
A Joy of Bliss As Art comes off my Fingers Free...

i Connect So Much More to Eastern Philosophies
That Are Mystical And Unifying too; However, i Enjoy
Learning About the Rest too as There Is Alway Something

New to Learn

That Assures the
me Now Will Be Far
Away From the me to
Come, While those i Meet and
Greet Now Become Integral to the
Soul i become Next All Organically Real..

---

@aghogday You are an independent artist!

And I'm absolutely positive the second dance is at Walmart, with me being a former employer and all. I can see a Walmart manager saying something, but also backing down as you appear confident, calm, etc., etc.

And Wow, I'm glad you've had success with health issues. And I'm very glad you're still here.

My grandmother had Trigeminal Neuralgia, which at the time when I was age 14, I thought was pretty bad. But looking back, maybe she had a relatively minor case, with the emphasis on the word relatively! They talked about clipping a nerve, and also talked about separating two nerves with a tiny sponge. And what's kind of weird, I don't remember which of the two they did. This would have been around 1978.

---

HAha, Yes! Walmart Indeed With Brand New
Wonderfully Renovated Polished Floors;

So Nice of Sam Walton To First

Establish A Public Place With
Free Dance Halls Just For me, HAha...

Truly Grateful Though And Also True
In Balancing Change With Flow i Am Really

No More Dangerous than A Butterfly as i Have
All 244 Pounds Balancing Change in Flow With A

Similar Principle For What the Egyptians Likely Used
to Move The Giant Stones of the Pyramids And Then Yes
A 100 or so Pound Man in Florida Who Built A 'Coral Castle'
With 30 Ton Stones An Amazing Feat And Story of that One

Solo Artist
And His Craft
For Decades Whether
Anyone Was Watching
or Affirming What He Was Doing

Or Not, Just The Timeless FLoW on Task
Just The Eternal Now With Little to No

Fear or Anxiety...

Building 'An Altar' for What He Called
"His Sweet Sixteen" Unrequited Love
in Youth That Would Never Come to be
Yet Muse For Completing A Coral Castle Indeed...

SMiLes, i Am Have More Sources For Muse Than i Can

And Will Count These Days Yes Necessary Ingredients

Now For All of What i Do As Science Shows Now True too...

And Yes, There is Sporadic Type One Trigeminal Neuralgia
And There is Also Type Two that i Endured Without a Break
From Wake to Sleep for 66 Months As i Surely Understand What

Not Knowing Whether or Not i Would Survive another Second of
Life for 66 Months Feels Like then From A Logical Memory At Least

As the Closest Analogy
i Can Find For that Pain
iS A Dentist Drill Without
Novocaine From Wake to
Sleep in my Right Eye and
Ear for 66 Months Then And Yes

'They' Wanted to Do An Operation to
Block the Nerve in my Face That Carried
The Risk of Permanent Paralysis of my Face...

Yet Honestly not Able to Remember the Feeling
of if i Ever Smiled Before, i Was More Afraid of Feeling

Nothing at all

Than Feeling

All that Pain

For It's True for
me at Least That Was A
Worse Hell than the Worst
Pain Known to Humankind then...

And It's True, Enduring That it is Surely
Easy for me to Appreciate What Coloring
The Eternal Now Means in All the Emotions
And Senses New Original Creativity in Art Brings...

Now And Then Folks Try Their Hardest to Bring my
"Mountain Top" Down Yet They Don't Realize my Valley
Is Actually Higher

mY FRiEnD...

Thanks Again
For All of

Your

Human Words..

---

@aghogday and thank you for your human words.